The Basics
The Mavericks hit the road one last time in the regular season this week when they take on Kansas City on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Gary Sharp will have the call on 1290 KOIL and links to live stats, audio, and video can be found at OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• For the first time in all of conference play, Omaha is not in first place in the Summit League as it dropped to second place following losses to South Dakota State (98-85), who remains one game behind the Mavericks in third, and St. Thomas (95-84), who now takes a half a game lead in over Omaha.
• Going 1-1 against the now first-place Tommies this year, the Mavericks outshot them in both games, posting a combined FG% of .527 (59-for-112) vs. .500 (57-for-114) and 3-PT FG% of .405 (15-for-37) vs. .379 (22-for-58).
• The big story for Omaha out of last week was
Marquel Sutton reaching 500 points on the season for the first time in his career after posting back-to-back 20-point games. In the process he became the 21st Maverick in history and eighth in the Division I era to do so. He also moved into 18th on the all-time scoring list with 1230 points and 14th on the field goals and rebounds lists with 470 FGM and 572 boards.
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Ja'Sean Glover also had a good day as he scored a career-high 18 points vs. St. Thomas as well as tying his career high in FGM with 7. With three made from behind the arc, this was the fifth time this season Glover made at least three triples.
• Saturday also marked the 17th time this season
Tony Osburn scored in double figures with 13 points. He now has as many double-digit scoring games this season as he did in the first two years of his career combined.
• In conference play, Omaha remains one of the best shooting teams, placing third with a 49.9% FG% and second with a 41.5% 3-PT FG%. In addition to this, the Mavericks actually lead the league in field goals made with 371 and are third in three-pointers with 118.
• With three games left, Omaha is three wins away from tying the 2018-19 team in Summit League victories with 13. The team's six road wins are also tied for the fourth most in the program's Division I history and one away from tying the 2015-16 team with seven.
• Sutton earned his first career Summit League Preseason honor after being named Second Team All-Preseason in October. In 2023-24, he was second on the team with 12.3 PPG (406 total) and led all Mavericks with 6.3 RPG (208 total boards).
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Lance Waddles (NDSU),
Joshua Streit (NDSU), and
Isaac Ondekane (Lindenwood) headline the Mavericks' top transfers this year with the trio coming to Omaha with a combined six seasons of Division I basketball under their belts. Also new this year are top JUCO transfers
Kamryn Thomas (2024 NJCAA Third Team All-American),
Khamani Cooper (465 points as a freshman in 2024), and
Valentino Simon (965 career points from 2022-24).
• Omaha has three captains this year:
Marquel Sutton,
Tony Osburn, and
Lance Waddles.
• Head Coach
Chris Crutchfield has a 50-62 career record. This season marks his fourth year as a head coach and third with the Mavericks.
Scouting the Kansas City Roos
After a 2-0 start to conference play, the Roos have gone 1-9 since their loss to the Mavericks back in January to fall to 3-9 with an 11-16 overall record. Last time out, Kansas City lost 79-72 at South Dakota this past Thursday.
Jamar Brown remains the team's top player, leading the Roos and placing top 10 in the conference in points (385), ppg (16.0), rebounds (181), rpg (7.5), FG% (.449), and steals (38), as well as leading the whole league in FT% at .897. He comes into this game fresh off his sixth double-double of the year after totaling 15 points and 13 rebounds against USD.
Right behind Brown in scoring is Jayson Petty with 316 points and 11.7 ppg. His 131 rebounds and 4.9 rpg are both third on the team behind Brown and Melvyn Ebonkoli (133, 4.9). Also notable are Babacar Diallo, who ranks fifth in the league with 82 assists, and Ring Nyeri, who is fourth in blocks with 18. Marvin Menzies is in his third year leading the Roos following three years heading up UNLV's program and nine years at the helm of New Mexico State before that. He has led five different squads to the NCAA Tournament, all during his time at NMSU. He left the Aggies with the third-best winning percentage in WAC history, a 2014-15 WAC Coach of the Year Award, and seven total WAC Regular Season and Tournament Titles.
All-Time Against Kansas City
Omaha re-tied the all-time series with Kansas City at 11-11 earlier this year with its nationally televised 77-58 victory at Baxter Arena on January 8. White and Waddles each wnet 6-for-10 on field goals that game and were tied for the team lead in points with 17 apiece. As for the Roos, Babacar Diallo led the way for them with 15 points while shooting 7-for-11.
